Sounds good so far. But there's a HUGE CATCH. Gameplay is limited, nay, crippled, even in the $0.99 PAID version. Basically, I can tell you that you get to you play for about 7 or 8 minutes before a timer shows you that you have to "recharge." This "recharging" takes ABOUT 8 MINUTES! Of course, you can skip the wait by paying coins, which, as I said, are not an unlimited resource. Sure, once you pay the $0.99 for the "ad-free" version you get a somewhat generous amounts of these coins. But, under light to medium game-play, these coins will soon drop down to 0 (oh, in about a week or so). WHILE PLAYING DOES EARN YOU MORE COINS, IT HAPPENS AT A VERY, VERY SLOW PLACE. Again, this is Zynga trying to get you to make an in-app purchase (i.e. real money).

There's yet another money-making mechanism (for Zynga) at work in this game. If you accidentally slash a human and you want to keep on playing, you can "rewind"--for a hefty price: you have to use a "rescue," and you get about 25 of those only AFTER upgrading to the $0.99 version.

ZYNGA's Words With Friends, Hanging With Friends, and Scramble with Friend work just fine without the in-app purchases of "Suspect Letters," "Extinguish Incorrect Tiles," and "Revive." All of these "perks" help you play a little better, but it's entirely possible to play 24/7 nonstop without buying them with virtual coins, coins are bought with REAL CASH.

If you get ZOMBIE SWIPEOUT by Zynga, then I guarantee that you will eventually be playing it for about 10 minutes at a time, before having to wait 8 minutes to refuel. Unless you start making in-app purchases to continue playing.

This is very similar to the arcade games of yesteryear, where your ship would die, and you had to pay $0.25 to continue playing. That was fair enough, as you were not buying the arcade machine itself. But it you BUY A GAME from the App Store, you should be able to play it 24/7 if you should want to. Zynga is the worst when it comes to this.

Zynga's Zombie Swipeout wants to make money for the company in three different ways:

(1) Revenue from ads if you get the free version
(2) You run out of energy for playing for roughly 8-10 minutes--even AFTER you buy the paid version, encouraging you to spend more money on the game for "coins" to avoid the 8-minute wait while your character "recharges"
(3) In order to continue gameplay right where you left off after accidentally slicing up a human instead of a zombie, you have to use a "rescue." You only get 25 opportunities to do this (AFTER you pay the $1 to get the ad-free version. More rescues are available, I'm sure, for--you guessed it--real cash.)

Zynga has no scruples. Had I know that even after paying $0.99 for the app, after playing for roughly ten minutes, I'd still be forced to wait while my character "recharges" for 8 minutes, I never would have bought the app!

The iOS Zynga games I could possibly ditch (maybe not Words With Friends!). CityVille, their web-based game, well, that's another story, as I have an approximately 18-month investment in that game, and I've met many cool and friendly people from all over the world because of that game. You help your "neighbors" with their cities and vice versa. So it's kinda like a "we're in this together" type of deal.

And yes, at 38 years of age, I always notice lots of people older than me playing. Even old fogies like me enjoy it!

Genius

The iOS Zynga games I could possibly ditch (maybe not Words With Friends!). CityVille, their web-based game, well, that's another story, as I have an approximately 18-month investment in that game, and I've met many cool and friendly people from all over the world because of that game. You help your "neighbors" with their cities and vice versa. So it's kinda like a "we're in this together" type of deal.

And yes, at 38 years of age, I always notice lots of people older than me playing. Even old fogies like me enjoy it!

The negative reviews on that game have started, and one reviewer said the game was being "throttled." I couldn't have picked a better word than that. It's exactly like what AT&T does with data usage for their customers who may still remain on the [poorly-named] "unlimited" plan. If other companies start doing this with their mobile games, then mobile gaming WILL suffer. Like Rovio did with the Mighty Eagle: at first, you payed an extra dollar, but got unlimited uses (one per hour or so) of the eagle. Now you are asked to pay a dollar for every three eagles. But at least with Angry Birds, you can still play 24/7 without using the eagle and gameplay doesn't suffer. This isn't the case with Zynga's Zombie Swipeout. I would gladly pay 5x what I payed for it for truly unlimited play.

Genius

Zynga bashing successful. They've lost my 70 cents from *that* scam. Honestly, it's unfortunate I had to take away Apple's cut. They deserve those 30 cents for their speedy handling of the situation:

Dear Rafael,

Thank you for contacting iTunes Store Support. My name is Jennifer and I will be happy to assist you with your concern.

I'm sorry to hear that the application " ZOMBIE SWIPEOUT" you recently purchased is not functioning as expected. I sincerely apologize for the frustration this has caused you. I can certainly understand how eager you are to get this taken care of. I'm here to help you.

Rafael, I've refunded the amount for this purchase. In five to seven businesss days, a credit of $0.99 should be posted to the credit card that appears on the receipt for that purchase.

Genius

Thank you for supporting Zombie Swipeout and for being a loyal player! We are sorry to inform you that Zombie Swipeout will be closing on Jun 25th, 2013.

We appreciate your participation in Zombie Swipeout as it helped make the game a fun place to meet and play with your friends. In place of Zombie Swipeout we encourage you to play other Zynga mobile games such as Draw Something 2, What’s the Phrase, War of the Fallen, Scramble with Friends, Matching With Friends, Gems With Friends or Hanging with Friends.

If you have coins or cash remaining in your account, you can use it in Zombie Swipeout until the game closes.

Thank you for your time in Zombie Swipeout. We look forward to seeing you again in other Zynga games.